Dana's Christian Journey

My friend’s dad never spoke to us about his experiences. The neighborhood guys were always in one another’s homes growing up and we all knew that Mr. Klein had survived the concentration camps of World War II. Most of us had seen the tattoo on his arm that all Jews received when first incarcerated.

Later in life, Mr. Klein chose to break the silence. He spoke to school assemblies and other groups in the Chattanooga area. He must have concluded that his story might contribute to confirming history and preventing such atrocities in the future.

The shrinking number of survivors due to age and the descendants of those who experienced ‘the Shoah,’ the Hebrew word used for Holocaust, want the world to remember and be on guard against the evils that target and destroy. Next week, May 5, is Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Memorial Day. At 10:00 am sirens will sound throughout Israel and everyone will stop and remember. The last time Susan and I were in Israel, we witnessed such a solemn moment. Cars pulled to the side of the road and people got out to stand in reverence during a two-minute period of silence.

As we entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington D. C. a couple of weeks ago, the message of ‘Never Again’ rang loud and clear. The most jolting part of the morning for me was walking on a bridge-like pathway through a room with a distinct smell. On the left and right of the path were thousands and thousands of shoes, the very shoes of those who were murdered in the concentration camps of Europe. As I think of these descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I think of Paul’s words.

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“‘The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’

“As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?’ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay Him?’ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:25-36

“Dana, what are Apollo and Poseidon and Archimedes doing up there on that painting of George Washington?” John is taking a humanities course in junior high and, though he loves his teacher and the class, he asked me early in the semester why he had to learn about the ‘fake gods.’ I told him it is good to understand what past cultures believed and how those beliefs shaped the world in which we live. “But remember,” I encouraged, “there is only one true God.”

While he may not have gotten all the intended images correct as he looked straight up in the Capitol’s high dome, John did notice a rather strange painting in a most prestigious location. In the 1850’s, Constantino Brumidi was given the assignment of painting a huge fresco honoring our nation’s first president. Born in Rome to an Italian mother and Greek father, Brumidi was a gifted artist who eventually moved to America and fell in love with our young nation.

Completed in 1866, “The Apotheosis of Washington” shows the founding father surrounded by thirteen maidens, representing the original thirteen colonies, escorted into the exalted position of being a god. On the outside edges of the painting, Roman gods such as Mercury, Neptune, and Vulcan accompany American leaders in Science, Commerce, Marine life, Agriculture, War, and Mechanics. I asked a lady who worked at the Capitol why the artist used such images and she answered that he was imitating the art of his homeland.

While I would guess George Washington himself would not have approved of the idea of him being turned into a god (which is the meaning of ‘apotheosis’), we can know from the powerful example of Paul and Barnabas to never accept glory that belongs to our Father in heaven.

“In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

“When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lyconian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

“But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ‘Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.” Acts 14:8-15